Hannah is our resident Editor of The Guide. Having worked across various beauty brands, as well as 7 years experience as a makeup artist, she brings a mix of journalism with real beauty knowledge.

"Want to go on a hair colour hiatus? We’ve got the best grow-out tips for you! "

There are so many reasons why we want to just throw in the towel sometimes and go on a hair-colour hiatus. Weaning off your trips to the hairdresser and subsequent colour sessions will help improve the health of your hair, and also save you some serious time and money in the long run.

Stepping away from perfectly coloured locks is actually really on-trend this season, with stylists and hairdressers even endorsing that lived-in look. So in saying all this – how does one actually transition back to their natural colour without looking ‘unkempt’ in the process?

For highlighted hair

The first step is to actually let your colour grow out for a few months. This will give you a good indication of your natural hair colour, and you can embrace ombre look – which is still on-trend! I’d recommend getting a good haircut too, to cut off those damaged and over-treated ends. From here you can simply just keep growing your highlights out as they should start to disappear after a few months. If you’re wanting to speed up the process, you could get some lowlights in a shade closer to your natural shade every 8 weeks until all the colour has all disappeared.

For lightened hair

Again, the first step is to let your hair colour grow out for a few months – or until you can see the colour of your natural locks. If there’s a big difference between your natural hair colour and the lightened ends, I’d recommend using some hair colour to tone the lightened ends down and make the difference not as vast. To do this at home, pick a shade that’s 2-3 shades darker than your treated/coloured hair. It’s really important to never go over 3 shades darker than the current hair colour as you could risk not getting the result you want.

Even though it probably won’t be achieved in one step or the same as your natural colour, this will help soften the difference between your re-growth and lightened hair so you can gradually grow all the colour out. Garnier Nutrisse Hair Colours have really great shade indicators on each colour to show you what to expect depending on your hair colour. These colours are also semi-permanent so really do cover over colour really well if you’re looking to fast-track and skip the re-growth stage.

It’s also important to note, that depending on how much you lightened your hair in the past, your hair's porosity, and it's overall health, it may more than one go (over the course of two to six months) to achieve the right tone. We highly recommend speaking to a hair care expert (we have a bunch of professionals on call, giving free advice on The Garnier professional line 1300 651 743) and work with a hair expert to ensure that you are properly caring for your hair.

For darkened hair

This one is a little more tricky and will probably require the help of a professional – unless you want to just go a la natural and let it gracefully grow out! You need to actually remove the darker colour via a colour remover application to lift the colour out of your hair. It’s really important to know that darker permanent colour cannot simply be removed by adding a lighter hair colour to your hair, this will only add colour and make it harder to lift and remove the colour.

For Grays

So you’re ready to embrace your new natural shade, and let the gray all grow out? This is actually less about adding colour to your hair, and more about letting it all grow out naturally. As gray can vary so much, with all different tones, it’s nearly impossible to match this with a hair dye. If you’re fair however, as in a blonde, you can gradually grow it out and get more highlights and lowlights to blend the colour and help you transition to your natural colour.

Now you are armed with this advice, you can start the process of getting back to your roots - literally!). If you’ve even unsure though, I always recommend getting in touch with an expert and getting personalised advice. Garnier have a team of professionals available, for free of course – PH: 1300 651 743.

The information on this website is intended to provide you with general information and opinions, rather than expert advice. Before relying upon any of the information on this site, please ensure it applies to your circumstances, and if in doubt, please seek professional advice. The views and opinions of the individual contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of L’Oréal Australia. If you’d like to give us any feedback regarding the information on this website, please contact us at: [email protected]